Griffin never able to shake his demons

JOHN P. LOPEZ, Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle |
August 24, 2007

There are moments when even amid the intensity and focus of his daily workouts with millionaire basketball stars, former Rockets guard and NBA coach John Lucas pauses.

And he thinks. He thinks of one who slipped away.

"I should have fought harder," Lucas said Thursday morning, after working out dozens of NBA players who, like Eddie Griffin, came to Lucas just wanting to get better at basketball and life.

They come to Lucas, who has been a recovering drug and alcohol addict for 21 years, from all over the league and every college basketball program imaginable.

In search of a direction

They come to him out of high school and from AAU programs. All are searching for basketball direction. And some just want direction.

That was Griffin, 25, the distant, often-troubled star who died last week here when the sport utility vehicle he was driving sped through railroad warning lights and a railroad arm, into a moving train. The scene was so horrific Griffin's body had to be identified by dental records.

"I was shocked, but not surprised," Lucas said. "In my mind, it was a suicide attempt.

"I absolutely loved my two years with Eddie. He was always a gentleman. But he became a different person when he was doing something that didn't agree with him chemically."

It was that dependency that led to Griffin to Lucas early in 2005.

A never-ending temptation

He was a troubled and frustrated addict, searching for a way to get better. His was a rough life and alcohol tempted Griffin every hour, every minute, every second.

Lucas looked in Griffin's eyes and saw what he often saw in the mirror during his NBA career. Lucas knew of Griffin's great ability as a player and how it was often hindered by his record of addiction, substance-abuse suspensions, a drunk-driving conviction and an assault.

For two years during offseasons, Griffin could be found working out under Lucas' watchful eye. Lucas counseled him before and after workouts. During NBA seasons, he called Griffin on the road with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"He was doing really, really good," Lucas said. "In March when the (Timberwolves) let him go, he kind of got away for a while.

"I pushed. But Eddie wanted to be left alone. One of the hardest things about the disease of alcoholism is it's cunning, powerful and awful. Drinking wasn't the solution. The problem was his life. But drinking was where he ... "

Lucas paused in mid-sentence.

The last time Lucas saw Griffin was less than two months ago. He asked how Griffin was doing and if he was willing to come work out.

That look

He saw that distant, detached look.

"I've been beating myself up that I couldn't do more after two years," Lucas said. "I've been beating myself up that I didn't fight harder.

"But when somebody is fighting to get away from you, eventually they're just going to go."

While Griffin's demise was self-inflicted, his is among the saddest of sports and life stories. And it is one with which more athletes than you imagine grapple with daily.

So many athletes have deep personal issues with which they have had to deal their entire lives. So many come from single-parent households, rough neighborhoods.

They are coddled and carried along by money-grubbing, summer-league coaches, hangers-on and relatives hoping to cash in.

Griffin was a street-tough Philadelphia kid who fought his way out, only to fall into unimaginable riches. Money couldn't buy Griffin love. But it could buy the chemicals that numbed the senses.

Everything to extremes

"Athletes, whatever we do in life we don't know how to do moderately," Lucas said. "We take that same competitiveness we have in sports, but we apply it in life.

"Athletes have to get the biggest house, get the biggest car. They have to love their girlfriends more. This is a crazy statement, but when I was an addict, I didn't want to be an average drug addict. I wanted to be the very best drug addict and alcoholic I could be. That's the way we as athletes were raised."

Lucas and those who were close to Griffin, those who knew the kindness and gentleness of his heart and the emotional issues that he fought daily, already know the cause.

"I told Eddie a bunch of times, life is nothing but a bunch of start-overs," Lucas said. "Are you willing to start over?

"At the end of the day, I'm not saying it's anybody's fault but the person that did it. We all have different ways of coping with life on life terms. Eddie's free now. He's free of just how hard it was."